Ten cities with the most overcrowded roads

September 22 is the World Car-Free Day, when motorists are invited to abandon fuel-consuming vehicles for at least a day.

Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz Mariordo

Some cities and countries organize special events to promote the movement. We decided to tell about cities with the worst traffic, where residents spend most of their time in traffic jams, and, in addition, the air is polluted heavily.

1. Mexico City

Country: Mexico

Level of traffic congestion: 66%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 59 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 227 hours

Mexico City is the capital of Mexico. It forms a federal district, divided into 16 districts. Overcrowding of the city creates giant traffic jams on highways, and a dense cloud of smog hangs over the city due to the high level of air pollution.

To solve this problem, authorities are building roads and road interchanges and restrict operation of private cars: all cars older than 8 years are not allowed to roads more 1 day a week and 1 Saturday per month. A popular and convenient mode of transport is taxi cabs of vivid green color.

2. Bangkok

Country: Thailand

Level of traffic congestion: 61%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 64 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 244 hours

Bangkok is the capital and the largest city in Thailand with a population of over 5.6 million people. Ground urban transport is represented mainly by buses. There are several categories of buses with different fare: ordinary (without glasses), enhanced comfort with air conditioning, mini-buses and microbuses, serving routes with low passenger traffic. The network of routes is quite dense (more than 400 routes), and the intervals on the main directions are about 10-15 minutes.

The system of express buses connecting urban airports with all major areas of Bangkok should be mentioned separately. Urban streets are heavily loaded, a large number of high-speed overhead roads and a partially completed ring road around Great Bangkok have been built to fight traffic jams.

3. Jakarta

Country: Indonesia

Level of traffic congestion: 58%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 48 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 184 hours

Jakarta is a special capital district, the capital and the largest city of Indonesia. Public transport is represented mainly by buses. Of traditional modes of transport, bajaj (a three-wheeled kind of transport) is common. Currently, the city’s authorities are carrying out construction of two lines of the city metro (which will partially pass over the surface).

4. Chongqing

Country: China

Level of traffic congestion: 52%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 55 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 212 hours

Chongqing is a city of central subordination in the central part of China, the largest by area of four Chinese administrative units of this category. Now it has 25 bridges across the Yangtze River, one of them is Chaotianmen Bridge, the longest bridge arched in the world, built in 2009. Five state highways and 17 provincial roads have been laid. Total mileage of roads amounts to 27,2 thousand km.

5. Bucharest

Country: Romania

Level of traffic congestion: 50%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 57 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 218 hours

Bucharest is the capital of Romania, the most important economic and cultural center of the country. More than 1.8 million people live in the capital and its suburbs. It is one of the most populated cities on the Balkan Peninsula.

Bucharest boasts with the largest transport network in Romania and one of the largest in South-Eastern Europe. The city has 106 bus, 37 trolleybus and 26 tram routes.

6. Istanbul

Country: Turkey

Level of traffic congestion: 49%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 46 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 175 hours

Istanbul is Turkey's largest city, the main commercial, industrial and cultural center, the main port of the country. This is an important center for road transport, lying at the intersection of transport routes connecting Europe and Asia.

Traffic jams, especially on the routes crossing the Bosporus, are a serious problem for the city.

7. Chengdu

Country: China

Level of traffic congestion: 47%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 46 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 176 hours

Chengdu is a city of subprovincial importance in Southwest China, located in the valley of the Minjiang River. Many national roads running from the provinces of Shaanxi, Yunnan and the Tibet Autonomous Region intersect in Chengdu.

8. Rio de Janeiro

Country: Brazil

Level of traffic congestion: 47%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 43 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 164 hours

Rio de Janeiro is a city in Brazil, the administrative center of the state of the same name. Santos Dumont airport is located adjacent to the city center, and international airport Galeao lies 20 km away from the city center. Jacarepagua airport is also very close. Since 1979, the city has a subway.

9. Tainan

Country: Taiwan

Level of traffic congestion: 46%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 37 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 143 hours

Tainan is the fourth largest city in Taiwan. It is located on the railway line connecting Taipei and Kaohsiung and running along the west coast of the island. The city is served by an airport that accepts domestic flights. Intraurban and suburban communication is carried out by bus lines.

10. Beijing

Country: China

Level of traffic congestion: 46%

Average time spent in traffic jams, per day: 47 minutes

Average time spent in traffic jams, per year: 179 hours

Beijing is the capital and one of the cities of central subordination of the People's Republic of China.

This is the largest railway and road junction and one of the main air hubs of the country. In addition, Beijing is the political, educational and cultural center of China.

Road network connects Beijing with all parts of China. 9 high-speed highways (and 6 more projected or under construction) and 11 state highways are available in the city. Beijing itself has 5 auto rings, which resemble squares in shape, since Beijing is characterized by a rectangular structure, while the streets are located on the sides of the center.

One of Beijing's biggest transport problems are traffic jams, which have become a daily occurrence in the city during rush hour, in some places and outside it. Most traffic jams are observed on the ring roads and main streets in the area of Chang'an Avenue.

The authorities are carrying out a large-scale reconstruction of roads within the Third Ring. The streets between the rings are rebuilt as light-cone high-speed roads and connected to high-speed tracks outside the Third Ring. This should solve the problem of "skipping between the rings".

One of the measures to resolve the transport problem was introduction of dedicated lanes for public transport, which prohibited movement of other vehicles during the peak hours.